The end of hatred

By Joe Lima 1-26-13

At the end of the war in Iraq, a news program was reviewing some of the major events of the war. One of the events disturbed my peace. At the beginning of the war, several American soldiers were captured, killed, dragged through the streets. Their dismembered bodies were hung from a bridge. I was horrified seeing this brutality and was left wondering how was it possible that someone could do that to another person.

That night I had a dream. In my dream, I was living in a home with my two small children. My next-door neighbor was visiting. Somehow I was informed of his intentions to purposely injure my children. I became enraged, I told this man who a few minutes prior was a friend how I was going to kill him. It was very graphic; I was surprised at the extreme level of my hatred. He stood up, smiled at me, and calmly said “that is what you want to do to yourself”. He walked out of the house. I was puzzled by his response to my death threat. After he left, I became overwhelmed with fear, that now he knew my intentions and that he could be destroying something as he walked back to his house. I went outside to see if he had damaged anything. I looked all over the yard and found nothing out of order. I was near the street, there was heavy traffic. Then I noticed a slender man who appeared to be in his seventies jogging toward me along the side of the road. As he approached, I noticed he had short graying hair that laid flat on his head and was wearing only shorts. Without him saying a word, I understood that he wanted me to give him a pair of shorts. I felt compelled to give him what he needed but didn’t know where I would find shorts for him. As I turned toward the house, I saw at the curb a suite case. I opened the case and found it full of shorts. By this time he had stopped jogging and was standing in front of me. I reached in the case and pulled out a pair of shorts. I knelt before him as if to help him on with the shorts. As I knelt, a thought crossed my mind, why does he want me to give him the only thing he already has. At that moment, I felt him place his left hand on my right shoulder. The instant he touched me I felt all fear and hatred leave me. Peace returned. I no longer desired to kill my neighbor. Without saying a word, he turned and continued down the road. I wanted to follow this man who brought me peace. As I watched him leave, I noticed the road had stones and broken glass that he ran barefoot over. I thought; if I am to follow him, I will need to put on running shoes to protect my feet. I went back to the house to find my shoes when I returned the man was gone.

After waking from the dream, I began to see that the Holy Spirit was showing me; the part of the mind that believes in separation; can hate and justify extreme violence toward another person. I also felt intense fear when my attack plan was revealed, and immediately went into defensive mode. The torment I experienced was excruciating, I believed the only way to relieve my pain, was to kill my neighbor before he would kill me and my children. I understood the incident in Iraq. But understanding did not bring me peace. My neighbor’s reaction to my threat was puzzling at the time but I now understand that it is only my own insane beliefs that can be attacked. Seeing the man jogging toward me caused me to put my insanity on hold. The shorts he asked me to give him represented the Love that He offers all. The suite case represents the Love inside that I temporarily misplaced while my mind was consumed with the thoughts of hate. He didn’t take the shorts but helped me find the Love inside. Hearing his call to return the Love (shorts) to Him brought me to my knees as He blessed me by His touch, taking all fear and hatred from me and returning me to Peace. For that I am truly grateful, I cannot imagine having to continue in that painful state of mind. My concern with the stones and glass in the road represented my belief in the body causing me to lose sight of God.

Seeing Perfection

By Joe Lima 2-10-13

I got a big job for my handyman business that included painting the inside of a very large house. I hired an extra man to help with this job. His job was to paint the ceilings in two rooms. Normally this task only takes a few hours. At the end of the day, I check on him and found him struggling to finish the ceilings. Instead of having a nice smooth painted surface, the ceiling had large areas of rough blotchy paint. It seems that the harder he tried the blotchier the ceiling became. At the end of the day, he quit in frustration. The next day, I checked into the situation and found the paint to be defective. I felt bad and told the man that the paint had some grit in the can that caused the paint to make a rough finish. He felt better knowing the cause but decided he did not want to be a painter. Therefore, I was left to remedy the problem. I sanded the high spots, filled the low spots, and sanded again. I repeated this process several times. After 3 days of trying to remedy the situation, it seemed fruitless as I never seemed to run out of areas to smoothen. I began to worry that I was going to need to reschedule other jobs because we were not going to finish the house on time, that the cost overruns would consume any chance to make any profit, and frankly, I was getting physically tired.

I thought to myself; why is this happening? Then all of a sudden the room that I was in, which had floor-to-ceiling windows on three walls filled with brilliant light. As the room filled with light I noticed that all the imperfections that seemed to be everywhere in filtered light disappeared in unfiltered light. I had to stop working on the ceiling because I no longer saw any imperfection.

I got the message that we see the imperfections of our brothers only because we are looking through the filters of our judgments. God sees the only perfection because his vision is pure and unfiltered.

I stood in the room amazed that the Holy Spirit would use this opportunity to teach me a lesson. But I realized the question I ask myself was really a desire to know the truth. That’s when I learned that the Holy Spirit can take any situation and use it for awaking.

The next day I had to go to another job across town. During that time my other helper put the final coat of paint on the ceiling. When I returned the following day, I checked the ceiling and it looked great.

Thanks, Holy Spirit. I wish I had asked for truth a few days earlier….

Bumble Me

By Joe Lima 2-23-13

At the end of a long day, I loaded up my truck, got behind the wheel, and started the engine. I looked up and saw a large bumblebee sitting on the outside of the windshield. I looked at him for a minute never before really seeing a bee that closes. I thought to myself, what a wonderful little creature. I wondered; why is he sitting there? I figured he would fly away as soon as the truck started moving. As I drove, the truck picked up speed, 10 mph he stayed right in front of me, 20 mph, he still did not move. 30 mph, he turned into the wind, 40 mph, he pulled in his wings to help resist the force of the wind. I could see he struggled to hang on. I sensed he was afraid to just let go. As the speed increased I found myself knocking on the inside of the glass encouraging him to fly away. As I knocked directly under him, I found myself reminding him that he was a bumblebee, don’t be afraid, you can fly, I said. I stopped for a red light, as I continued to knock, trying to get him to fly, a thought crossed my mind. This is what the Holy Spirit is trying to do to me. He has a clear vision of me hanging onto a world that is full of fear. He is knocking on my head, trying to wake me up: You are the Son of God, do not be afraid, just let go.

At that moment, I noticed that the people sitting in the car next to me were watching me knocking on the windshield and telling me it is a bumblebee that can fly. When I turned back to the windshield, the bumblebee was gone.

Gratitude

By Joe Lima 7-1-16

I was sitting on the bench of the picnic table in my back yard one warm October afternoon. I began thinking of all the beautiful people in my life (present company included) when I felt a great sense of gratitude. As I was thinking of how we had touched each other's lives, I heard the words "You are the fabric of Life". I asked spirit, what does that mean? I was shown a very beautiful fabric, it reminded me of the material that a bridal gown is made from. It had beautiful beads equally spaced, each bead was as beautiful as the next. The beads were all the same size and brilliance. The beads had a pearl-like color to them. This fabric with the beads went on as far as I could see in all directions. There were no rips, seams, or end to this fabric. I took a closer look; I discovered that these beads, were not beads at all, but lights. These lights were shaped like the light from a candle except the top of the light was more rounded than pointed. I understood that each light was the light of each of my friends, I understood that the group of lights that surround my light is my close spirit family. I asked spirit why was it that I could not see the lights in my friends as I see it now. Spirit told me the light is always there but is covered with dust particles. Each particle represents a belief or judgment that there is something other than what God created. As these beliefs are forgiven the dust particles fall away allowing the light to show a little brighter. I also understood that these light families have had many lifetimes together, each lifetime the roles may change. I learned that this fabric can be folded in any fashion so as to be in close contact with any other light no matter the lights location in the fabric. The folds can last an instant or a lifetime. That helped me understand how people seem to come into and out of our lives. I then began to look at the fabric, each thread had a slight wave. The waves were very gentle and connected each light to every other light. Each thread seemed to have a slight golden glow to it. I realized that the thread that connected us all is Love. I remember looking to see which one of these lights was me. I searched the fabric but could not find the one that was me.

When the vision was over, I found myself standing in the middle of the yard about 30 feet from where I was when the vision started. I don't remember how I got there. I must have walked to that place as I was trying to get a closer look.

So, this vision happened about 3 years ago and I am finally writing it down. After writing it, I began to read it. When I was done, I heard the words again, "You are the fabric of Life". It seems that spirit gave me a way of understanding then what I was able to understand then.

Now, when I heard the words, I understand that I AM the Fabric of Life, You are the Fabric of Life, We are the Fabric of Life, the One Fabric, the Christ. We are not one little light on the fabric, We are all the lights on the entire fabric.

"Gratitude to God becomes the way in which He is remembered, for love cannot be far behind a grateful heart and thankful mind. God enters easily, for these are the true conditions for your homecoming." ACIM Ch. 23 .4 excerpts

Conjugation

By Joe Lima 12/31/17

Revelation

By Joe Lima 1-2-18

After working as a healer for many years and studying A Course in Miracles and practicing True Forgiveness, then doing inner child healing, all fear left me, I felt at Peace.

This Peace was so complete that I finally felt ready to accept the Atonement for me.

As soon as I entered this state of mind, I saw a beautiful display of lights streaming from above. This light had alternating beams of white and gray light. This light seemed to have different qualities than the light I am familiar with. This light seemed to slow down and was thick. It had a cavity that was shaped like my body. I knew that space was meant for me. I turned around and took two steps back fitting into my space. This light embraced my entire body with its warmth and Love.

There was no separation.

I had an overwhelming feeling of Pure Joy. This Joy by far surpassed anything I had ever experienced. I felt at One with this Light of Love. I could have stayed there for an eternity and be perfectly happy. In this place, there were no problems to solve, and nothing to fear. I was filled with gratitude to God. I felt certain that this was a place that God created just for me. I believe each of us has a place in eternity. I was given a choice to stay or return to the place I was before. I chose to return. I felt I had more work to do. I left this place but brought the knowledge that I will return one day.

The ego is nothing

By Holy Spirit via Joe Lima

The ego is nothing to fight against, it is only to recognize, and no longer believe.

The ego will be with you until forgiveness is complete.

Forgiveness will be complete when you look at your brother and see only innocence.

Then, realize that he is a reflection of You, and forgiveness was never needed.

The Holy Instant

By Joe Lima 5-12-2012

I was practicing lesson 1 in The Course In Miracles “Nothing I see in this room means anything “. As I lay on my bed, concentrating on the lesson, I lost awareness of my body. I still saw everything in my room, but did not feel separate from it. I sensed that everything was of one energy. All thoughts of worry, fear and problems to solve, completely left my mind. I was at Peace. This experience lasted for several minutes. Then my cat jumped on my full bladder and the instant was over as the awareness of my body returned.